Southwest Left Coast

A native San Diegan's view of technology, journalism, science, politics and anything else that interests me. The inevitable disclaimer: This blog represents my personal views, not those of my employer, the North County Times.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Fun memories

Since Cathy Seipp has posted another picture from her Sept. 10 roast, I've got no choice but to do the same. Since much of the discussion on her blog of late has involved Islam, note the characteristically Islamic motif on the blue wall behind her.

Monday, September 18, 2006

YACSRTV

Yet Another Cathy Seipp Roast-Tribute Video.This video snippet includes the last few seconds of a videorecorded Cathy Seipp tribute by conservative milblogger Odysseus (well, at least a toy soldier that greatly resembles him), immediately followed by liberal David Ehrenstein's left-handed praise for the blog's "negative energy." Recorded at the Cathy Seipp roast/tribute at the Hotel Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 10.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Neck Veins!

Cathy Seipp on TV debating Lawrence O'Donnell on public schools. David N. Scott appears at first, to be followed by the famous exchange, in which Cathy calls O'Donnell "delusional", and his bulging neck veins fill the screen in response.

Video snippet reposts

Dr. Mike Kennedy, famed surgeon, boatsman and Dick Cheney fan, talks of his Seippophilia and how much fun the bash is.

Snippet at the Cathy Seipp tribute in which Cathy Seipp's physical attributes are compared to that of Mussolini, not unfavorably.

Gary McVey, FoC and executive director of the American Cinema Foundation, gives his warm greetings to those of Cathy's fans who could not be at her roast/tribute on Sept. 10, with special words of thanks to milblogger Odysseus "Ody", who makes it all possible.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Air apparent

Self-hating liberal Mickey Kaus instinctively holds his nose to ward off the ghastly fetor emanating from a bag lady who had somehow infiltrated Cathy Seipp's tribute. The intruder was actually Nikki Finke, who entered the posh event cleverly disguised as Kasatka. Shortly after this photo was taken, Finke's keepers lured her outside to the SeaWorld van with a basket of fresh herring.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Mo' Cathy Seipp Tribute Fotos

The sacred Seipp festivities were rudely interrupted by a Commie intruder, wearing the name of the treasonous New York Crimes. He was promptly taken into custody and fed to rabid raccoons.

Sandra Tsing Loh's radiant face contorts in what was either agony or ecstasy -- I couldn't tell which.

Matt Welch, the scarily respectable-looking assistant editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times, puts in a few good words for Cathy. Immediately after his speech, Welch bit the head off a live opossum, quoted from Homer's Odyssey in classic Greek pentameter, then demonstrated an elegant, concise proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.

Jill Stewart, political writer and relentless scourge of complacent feeders off the public trough, joins the crowd scanning to see the monitors in the afternoon glare.

He's not Luke-warm

Luke Ford, one of the most, uh, singular of Cathy's wacky menagerie of friends, looks totally wholesome, even movie star material, as he roars during Cathy's roast. You would never think that he -- oh, never mind.

UPDATE -- Ford has a 12-question interview with Cathy in LAist. The site notes by way of explaining Ford:

"One of Cathy's best friends is the controversial local journalist Luke Ford, whom you might have seen on the cover of the LA Weekly's "LA People" edition this April. Luke is so controversial, in fact, that Pajamas Media let him go just days after hiring him, before he even wrote one word. Some presume that Luke's resume was brought to the attention of some at PM who probably should have seen it before accepting him. Luke, you see, is probably the world's best journalist in the adult video world."

LAist is right as far as it goes, but Ford is a good journalist, period. His interviews are thoughtful and comprehensive, even if he does tend to obsess on lesbian questions. And he has a good sense of ethics, unlike some of journalism's prima donnas that, for example, don't see anything wrong with sock puppetry. True, Luke would give Pajamas notoriety, his care with facts would also bring credibility. A lack of tolerance for oddballs may seem to be playing it safe, but in blogland it's just boooooor-ringggg.

More Seipp-sonalities

Two of the men in Cathy Seipp's life at her roast/tribute-- her father, Harvey Seipp, and ex-husband Jerry Lazar. I spotted Jerry before the event started, wearing a nametag with just an "X". Had I been quicker thinking, I'd have realized it was a reference to his marital status vis-a-vis Cathy.

Seipp that Swallowed the Canary

Seipp-a-Bration

The Hotel Figueroa, an oasis of cultured gentility in soulless downtown Los Angeles. Cathy Seipp, a transplanted Angeleno writer by way of Winnipeg. (And her fair Canadian complection seemed at times in danger of wilting from the SoCal summer heat). Several scores of her best friends and blog posters. The result: an amusing, almost magical few hours on Sunday for aroast-tribute.

A touch of pathos -- but only a touch -- intervened during the event, acknowledging Cathy's struggle with cancer. That was also the hook for one of the lamest motivational lines I've ever heard: "If life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. If life hands you cancer, you make cancerade."

Ewwwwwwwwww! My first thought was how yucky the taste would be of pureeed cancer cells. But no matter, Cathy kept that wry, somewhat inscrutable expression during the event.

Speaking of wry, I discovered where Cathy inherited that gene, from a brief chat with her father, Harvey Seipp. Cathy, it seems, was driven to be autonomous even as a toddler. That too is on video.

Some of Cathy's top blog commentators were there, including Dr. Mike Kennedy, Donna B., but not , sadly, David Ehrenstein, who chickened out, together with his conservative doppelganger, a mysterious character named Mark (no last name). I think they're the same person.

There's much more to say, and I will later. For now, here's a couple of pictures, of the Mistress of Honor and Sandra Tsing Loh.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Plame Flame

Of all the issues regarding the Bush Administration, nothing has been more confusing to me than that furious web of charges and countercharges over the "outing" of CIA agent Valerie Plame, allegedly done by Bush Administration officials for revenge against her husband, Joe Wilson.

That theory was destroyed by the recent revelation that former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, a Bush critic, disclosed Plame's identity to columnist Bob Novak. Uber-blogger Patterico has a roundup and more comment on his blog.

Patterico notes that on a related note, Jason Leopold's fizzled "scoop" about Karl Rove's purported indictment has sank further into deserved ignominy. Here's the link to an update from Dana, one of his blog regulars. After my recent unpleasant tangle with Leopold, I'm reluctant to say too much more. Suffice it to say that months after Leopold's claim, there is no proof such an indictment exists, but Leopold won't retract his story.